Letter: Don’t encourage drivers to burn more gasoline

So, the House wants to increase speed limits on Interstate 93. Guess that’s easier than enforcing the laws they previously passed and adding money to the state coffers. That way they can continue to gripe about how we’re still short of money. People are bemoaning the price of gasoline, yet the Legislature encourages them to burn more at the current prices.

As Rep. Christy Bartlett indicated, higher speeds use more gasoline and create more safety hazards. Rep. Candace Bouchard said that the speed limit is a “maximum.” Wonder who does her driving for her?

Obviously very few drivers observe the “limit.” Most are traveling between 75 and 90 mph. Don’t believe me? Try driving the current limit and counting the cars that pass you. They must fear that where they’re going will disappear before they get there. I wonder if Rep. Steve Vaillancourt’s children have ever used the excuse, “But everybody else is doing it!” or words to that effect. My parents wouldn’t accept that excuse years ago. Now Vaillancourt is using it himself, to excuse the violation of a law! This is a legislator?

In the 1970s we were told to slow down to 55 to conserve gasoline. Did this slower speed help to cut down on fatal traffic accidents? Another question: How many laws is our Legislature willing to remove from the books because they are just too darn difficult to enforce? Wasn’t it George Carlin who said that the way to stop crime was to make everything legal, then there would be no crime? Just wonderin’.